You Used to Astound Me
by Kkarrie
Summary: Eight years ago, Shawn Spencer left town to clear his head after a fight with Juliet. He meant to go back, after a day or two. But while Shawn was gone, Henry let something slip. Something that no one was ever supposed to know... Shawn isn't psychic
1. Chapter 1

Carlton Lassiter stared out the plane window at the rain. Of course it would be raining today. His flight had landed minutes before and the first class passengers were slowly unloading their carry-ons and getting their jackets on. He was in Cincinnati, Ohio. The last place on earth he wanted to be. He wanted to be in Santa Barbara working on his case, but no, he was in this rainy town looking for the only person that could help, even though that person was the last person Lassiter wanted to talk to.

Lassiter didn't have a carry-on. He didn't have any luggage at all, for that matter. He would have needed to check his glock to bring it and there wasn't enough time for that. His return flight left in three hours.

As he waited for a cab, he checked the paper in his pocket. He had needed to cash in a few favors to get this address, but at this point Lassiter was willing to donate a kidney to solve this case.

"Listen up friends, we have a culinary delight for you tonight." Shawn Spencer announced as he walked out of his apartment kitchen. He grinned to himself, and then the grin faded as he looked around the empty room. It wasn't a dining room or a living room. It was, as Shawn had dubbed it, the dine-live-bed room. There was a bedroom in the apartment, but that was occupied by all the extra things Shawn had managed to acquire over the past eight years.

He sighed, set the TV dinner on the coffee table, and slumped down on the futon. He was going to do the same thing he did every night. He would eat dinner and watch television until he fell asleep. Then he would get up in the morning, shower, go to work, then come home and repeat the ritual. It had been that way since he moved in.

Lassiter got out of the cab and promised the driver a tip worth his while, if he would wait. Spotting a familiar motorcycle parked in the carport for apartment 145, he pulled the collar of his trench coat up around his neck to keep the rain out and ran for the building. He glanced around the apartment hallway. The carpet was damp from the rain and the whole place smelled faintly of mildew. The paint was a horrible yellow-brown color that strongly reminded Lassiter of the kitchen appliences his mother had bought when he had been five or six. As he thought about the color of the walls, Lassiter almost walked past apartment 145. He doubled back and then paused to stare at the door.

According to the paper in his hand, this was the right place. Lassiter reached out his hand to knock on the door, then pulled it back. It had been a long time since he had heard the name Shawn Spencer mentioned by anyone, but the memory of that day was still as fresh as if it had been only yesterday.

_"Mr. Spencer left a message this morning that he'll be out of town for a few days." The chief was sitting at her desk. Lassiter, O'Hara, McNab and Henry had been gathered in her office._

_Lassiter glanced to his partner as she made an inarticulate sound. He had noticed the puffy eyes and red splotches when she had come to work that morning. She had definitely been crying._

_Henry slammed his hand down on the table in the corner of the office. "Damn it, Shawn. You always do the same thing. When the going gets tough you run away." He was talking to himself, but everyone in the room heard it._

_That's when the dots connected in Lassiter's brain. Spencer and O'Hara must have had a fight. He had discovered that they had been dating about six or seven months before, right after the Yin case had come to a close._

_"I can't believe he would just disappear like that," O'Hara whispered, her voice hiccuping slightly._

_Henry shook his head. "I would have thought this whole psychic charade would have taught him something about responsibility."_

_There was a full beat of silence before McNab spoke up. "Charade?" _

_That had been the tipping point. It had all come out after that. The reality that Shawn Spencer was no more psychic then Lassiter himself. Guster had been brought in for questioning. So had Henry. But because Shawn Spencer never came back to Santa Barbara they had escaped charges._

Lassiter stared at the apartment number as he thought about that day. It had been almost eight years since Lassiter found out that Shawn Spencer wasn't psychic and not once had he felt the happiness or the elation that he thought he would. He sighed, reached out his hand, and firmly knocked on the door.

It took a moment for Shawn to realize that someone was knocking on his door. The only person who ever knocked on his door was the mailman when Shawn had a package that wouldn't fit in the mailbox.

He paused the TV and listened. There was another knock. Deciding that the worst thing that could be on the other side of the door was his neighbor from down the hall who had a bazillion cats, Shawn slowly undid the dead bolt and then opened the door about halfway.

Lassiter's head snapped up from where he had been staring at the puddle he was creating on the floor when the door opened.

"Lassiter?" Shawn wouldn't have been able to hide the surprise in his voice even if he had tried.

"Spencer."

Shawn started to close the door.

Lassiter put his foot in the doorway before it could shut all the way. "I need to talk to you," he protested, trying to shove his way between the door and the frame.

"I think we're a little late for that." Shawn pushed on the door, crushing the head detective a little.

"I need to talk to you," Lassiter repeated and pushed his full weight against the door.

Shawn hadn't been prepared for that, and before he knew it, Lassiter was standing in the middle of his apartment. He crossed his arms and glared at the detective.

Lassiter froze when he realized he was standing face to face with Shawn. He took a moment to study the younger man.

Spencer's hair was still gelled as it had been before, ridiculously. But he was eight years older; there were grey flecks in his hair and more lines in his face. The part of his face that Lassiter could see, most of it was hidden by stubble that would have rivaled Don Johnson's in Miami Vice.

"Did you come here to play the staring game with me?" Shawn snapped. "I have important things to do before the end of the night you know."

Lassiter scowled. "That was always your problem, Spencer. Nothing is ever serious and it's always about you."

"I suppose you tracked me down after eight years so that you could list my faults and go over them with me." Shawn flopped back down on the futon. "You decided that the awkwardness of the situation would be outweighed by the pure glee you would get from rubbing it in my face that I, Shawn Spencer, wasn't really a psychic."

"I always knew you were a fake," Lassiter snapped. "But here's the thing, Spencer, you used to astound me. Your observation skills were phenomenal. I always knew that's all there was to you, observation skills. I used to think that when I finally got you, when I finally had proof that you were a fraud that I would be happy. That my life would be perfect, but here's some news for you, my life over the past eight years has sucked."

"The great and powerful Carlton Lassiter has come to tell me how his life is empty without me," Shawn scoffed, his voice full of a mocking tone. He stood up and crossed his arms again.

Lassiter wanted to deck him right then and there, but he restrained himself, clenching his hand into a fist. "I'm here, because unfortunately for me, you're the only person on this planet that can help me at the moment."

"Oh, did you get a case with an aquarium of dying fish? I'm sure you found out I work for the local aquarium. Or maybe it's the otters that are in trouble." Shawn's voice was still sarcastic. "You want me to commune with the spirits."

"This isn't about a case, not an official one." Lassiter spoke quieter and quieter as he thought about his case. He was staring with unfocused eyes at a spot on the floor.

Shawn cocked his head to the side. "What happened?" Lassiter didn't respond, he just kept staring at the floor. "What happened, Lassie?"

Lassiter visibly flinched as Spencer used the familiar nickname, a nickname he hadn't heard in eight years. He took a deep breath and steeled himself, meeting Spencer's steady gaze. "O'Hara's been kidnapped."

"What?"

"Juliet... she's been kidnapped," Lassiter sighed, the anger from moments ago gone.

"How is this not an official case?" Shawn demanded.

"He said," Lassiter swallowed. "He said if I involved the police he would kill her."

"When do we leave?" Shawn started gathering things from around his apartment and shoving them into a backpack.

"You're coming?" Lassiter frowned. He was expecting to have to beat and drug Spencer to get him to come.

Shawn stopped and looked Lassiter in the eye. "I still love her; of course I'm coming."

Lassiter checked his watch. "Our flight is in two hours."

"That's cutting it close." Shawn grabbed a change of clothes out of his combination DVD and clothes storage box.

"It wouldn't be if you hadn't started arguing with me."

Shawn shook his head and slung the backpack over his shoulder. "Let's do this."


	2. Chapter 2

Lassiter had shown up after eight years. That was the thought that was going through Shawn's head after they went through airport security. They were sitting in the terminal, tying shoes and repacking bags.

Shawn gave a side glance and studied Lassiter. The head detective was almost fifty now. His hair was more grey than black and the lines on his face were deeper. But there was something else, the way Lassiter was carrying himself, was different. It was off.

"When did you get shot?" Shawn asked as he stood and hoisted his backpack on his shoulder again.

Lassiter raised an eyebrow at him. "Five years back. Hostage situation that ended badly. The bullet passed through my left thigh right above the knee and shattered part of the bone. Haven't walked right since, despite the reconstructive surgery." He made a face of discomfort as he got up from the chair.

Shawn went quiet and fiddled with the ticket in his hand. "Did you tell anyone you were flying out to get me?"

Lassiter shook his head as they boarded the plane. "I just said I was taking a couple days personal time."

"Haven't they noticed Jules is gone too?"

"She's on vacation with-" Lassiter caught himself. "With her boyfriend."

"Did you do a background check on him? Did you see if he was a murdering psychopath?" Shawn immediately jumped to conclusions.

Lassiter winced as he sat in the cramped plane seat. "Yes, damn it, do you think I'm stupid?"

Shawn checked his ticket and then climbed over Lassiter to get to the window seat.

"Hey, watch the knee!" Lassiter protested.

"When did the ransom call come in?" Shawn settled into his own seat.

"Yesterday morning." Lassiter let his head fall back against the headrest. He'd barely slept in the past 48 hours. "I spent the next twelve hours trying to find something, and then... it took a few phone calls to track you down."

"How'd you do it?"

"Agent Ewing in the treasury department got me your address off last year's taxes."

"Did he ask why you wanted it?"

Lassiter shook his head, buckling his seat belt. "He owed me one; we had another counterfeiter after you left. It would have ended his career if we hadn't caught him. No questions asked."

As the plane took off, Shawn thought back to all the unanswered phone calls, the emails that no one ever responded to. He hadn't talked to anyone since he had left. He closed his eyes and thought back to why he left.

_"I think we should tell them." Juliet was sitting on a stool at her kitchen counter. Shawn had taken to spending most of his free time at her place, because let's face it, it was much nicer then a dry cleaner's._

_"If we tell them, I can't solve cases anymore. Unless you want to quit your job," Shawn reasoned, flipping a pancake over on the stove._

_"I'm not quitting my job," Juliet told him, her voice even. "Besides, Lassiter already knows."_

_"Since when?" Shawn almost dropped his pancake on the floor._

_"Since after the Yin case. He saw us in the interrogation room through the mirror."_

_"He never said anything to me about it."_

_Juliet shook her head, "He didn't want to get me into any trouble. You know what happened when you spilled the beans about Detective Barry."_

_Shawn hung his head, then dug into the pancake. "I just don't think we need to tell everyone. The people who know about us, are the people that matter. Gus, Lassie and my dad."_

_"I want everyone to know that we're together. You do love me, right?" Juliet knew that he did, but she wanted to hear Shawn say it for himself._

_Shawn frowned. "Of course I love you. I've loved you since I made you a crawly snake at the diner."_

_"Then we should tell everyone."_

_Shawn shrugged. "I just don't see why it's that big of a deal."_

_They had gone back and forth like that for hours. She wanted to tell everyone. He wanted to keep doing his job. He couldn't tell her the other secret, the one where Shawn wasn't actually a psychic. He knew the two didn't go hand in hand. But Shawn felt that somehow if they told everyone one secret, then he would be forced to tell the other._

The reason for the fight didn't really matter any more, Shawn thought as he stared out into the dark sky. It never had really mattered.

"What if she's dead?" Shawn murmured.

Lassiter snapped his head to the side. "She's not," he said matter of factly.

"But what if we don't make it in time?" He slumped in his seat.

Lassiter didn't respond and silence lapsed over them, the only noise on the plane was the rustling of magazines and the steady breathing of the sleeping passengers.

"Why did you leave?" Lassiter broke the silence. It was a question that he had been asking himself for years. "You were out of town before we all found out."

Shawn played with the latch for the tray table in front of him. "Juliet and I fought about whether to tell everyone about us. I didn't want to, because I wouldn't be able to solve cases with you guys." He shook his head. "I guess none of that matters at this point."

It struck Lassiter that in the almost fifteen years since he had met Shawn Spencer this was the most honest they had ever been with each other.

"I knew," he said quietly.

Shawn nodded. "That's what Juliet said. I was surprised you never told the chief. After I outed you and Barry."

"Truthfully," as long as they were being honest with each other, Lassiter was willing to mention this, "that was the best thing you ever did for me."

"What?"

"Can you imagine what those five years would have been like if Lucinda had been my partner?" Lassiter gave a small laugh. "Dear god, the sexual tension alone would have killed someone, probably me."

Shawn made a face of disgust. "Next topic please. I never needed to hear Carlton Lassiter say the words 'sexual tension'."

"O'Hara is a damn fine partner, and she never would have been transferred to Santa Barbara if you hadn't spoken up when you did," Lassiter said a little more seriously.

"Are you saying thank you?" Shawn raised an eyebrow.

"Possibly." Lassiter pretended to look at the Skymall magazine with a renewed interest.

They both ended up sleeping most of the plane ride. Once they had gotten past the crowd of family and friends waiting for the other passengers on the plane, they made their way to Lassiter's car.

As he unlocked the driver's side door, the head detective remembered something. "Damn it all, I left my files at the station."

"I am not going there so we can pick them up," Shawn said darkly. "One tiny, baby step at a time."

Lassiter shook his head. "I'm supposed to be on vacation. If anyone sees me the chief will hear about it. I'll have to get McNab to bring them to me."

"How is Officer McNab doing?" Shawn had momentarily forgotten about the rookie.

"Make that Junior Detective McNab." Lassiter started the car and headed for his apartment. "He passed the exam and got partnered up with Dobson."

"Detective McNab." Shawn wrinkled his nose. "That just doesn't flow off the tongue right."

"Just," Lassiter paused. "McNab took it really hard when you left."

Shawn gave him a confused look.

Lassiter sighed. "I knew you were a crock full of crap from the beginning. McNab truly believe in you and your abilities." He didn't want to say the word psychic; that word always made him want to punch something. "When he found out you had been lying all along, it crushed him." Lassiter ran a hand through his hair.

"I..." Shawn trailed off. He knew what he should say. He should say that he never thought of how many people would notice that he was gone. He knew Jules, Gus and his dad would and even Lassie, but it had never occurred to him that McNab would take it so hard.

Lassiter was living in the same apartment as he had been when Shawn left. The paint was peeling slightly, and the plants were bigger, but it was the same place.

Lassiter was going through the apartment flipping on lights, checking locks and securing blinds.

Shawn felt a little out of place as he set his things down next to the kitchen counter. He turned to make a comment about the new furniture to Lassiter, but the detective was already on the phone.

"You listen to me, McNab." Lassiter was using the same voice he had used to crush the younger cop's spirits all those years ago. "There's a green folder, about two inches thick in the bottom drawer of my desk. I need you to get it and bring it to me."

Shawn checked the bowl of peanuts on the counter for the gun that Lassiter had always kept there and gave a small smile when he found it there. At least that hadn't changed.

"Yes, I know it's nearly midnight, but I need them for a personal matter," Lassiter snapped. "Don't you dare tell me you're at home. I'm talking to you on your desk phone," Lassiter growled into the phone. "I need those files ASAP." He listened for a moment. "Well, tell Dobson you have a family emergency. You have three kids; one of them is bound to fall out of a tree and break an arm at some point."

Shawn snapped his head up. Kids? McNab had kids?

Lassiter hung up the phone and let his shoulders slump a little as he relaxed. "He'll be here in a few minutes."

"I guess things have changed around here," Shawn tried several times to lean against the counter and then decided it would be less awkward to just sit in one of the stools.

Lassiter glanced up from where he was maneuvering his case board into the middle of the living room. "It's been a long time."

"Kids for McNab?" Shawn watched as Lassiter took all the pictures, time lines and other information off of the board. It was clear there was only one case and one villain that the head detective was concerned with catching at the moment.

"Three of them," Lassiter muttered, grabbing a dry-erase marker and starting to lay out a week's worth of timeline.

Shawn could tell that Lassiter was too distracted to answer any of his questions in depth and settled for munching on the in-flight snack that he had been too tired to eat earlier. Come to think of it, Shawn was glad he'd slept during the flight. It looked that they were going to be up for a long time.

It wasn't too long after Shawn had finished with his snack that there was a knock on the door. Shawn briefly considered running for the bathroom, or any other room in the apartment, for that matter, just to get out of having to confront McNab. But before he could make up his mind Lassiter had crossed to room to open the door.

Shawn could hear the numerous apologies before McNab even came in. At least that part about him hadn't changed.

"Here's the file you asked for, Detective. I also grabbed this one, because I thought it might be green, although I would consider that a sea foam." Buzz turned and almost dropped both folders before Lasstier could take them from him.

Shawn shifted in his seat; he wasn't sure what to say.

"Shawn?" Buzz's mouth was agape.

"Hey Buzz." Shawn avoided meeting his eyes.

Buzz looked to Lassiter and then back at Shawn. "Is this what you needed the file for? You always said if he came back to town you would arrest him." Buzz reached to his belt for his handcuffs.

Lassiter shook his head and waved McNab off. "This is something else." He set the files down on the coffee table.

"Then why is he here?"

Shawn had looked up when he heard the clink of handcuffs; he thought for a moment that maybe Lassiter had conned Shawn into coming back so he could arrest him. But the look in Lassiter's eyes as he slowly exhaled convinced Shawn the detective had been telling the truth.

McNab was still standing, staring at Shawn, waiting for his question to be answered.

"Detective O'Hara is in trouble, and right now Mr. Spencer is the only one that can help." Lassiter was excessively formal.

"What kind of trouble?" McNab's voice had been so dark before, but now was full of concern for Juliet.

"She's been kidnapped." Lassiter's voice tightened. "I received a call yesterday; if I make this an official investigation she's dead, and if I don't give him what he wants..." He trailed off and slowly sat down on the arm of the sofa.

"What does he want?" Shawn spoke up.

"He wants you." Lassiter said it so quietly, that at first Shawn wasn't sure if he heard him right.

"Me?"

Lassiter nodded. "You."

"Then let's make a deal." McNab took a step towards Shawn.

"So this is it? You brought me all the way here to turn me in to a kidnapper?" Shawn frowned.

"No!" Lassiter didn't even recognize the strangled voice that came from him. He had risen to his feet to stop McNab. "We're not cutting a deal with this freak. We're going to find O'Hara and we're going to save her." He turned to the case board and started writing on it again.

Shawn glanced over to Buzz. It was incredibly odd to see him wearing a suit, tie and spotless dress shoes. Maybe Lassiter had rubbed off on him over the years. Shawn cleared his throat. "So, three kids?"

"Two boys, five and six, and a girl who just turned three." Buzz didn't look over at him. "I need to get back to the station."

Lassiter made sure to look McNab in the eyes. "You tell anyone I brought Spencer back and you'll be a beat cop for the rest of your life," he threatened.

McNab nodded, and giving Shawn one last look, he headed out the door.

"Do you think he'll tell?" Shawn asked the moment the door clicked shut.

"It doesn't matter," Lassiter murmured, as he turned back to the case board. "Now help me find O'Hara."

Shawn stared at Lassiter's case board until his eyes crossed. Finally, at three in the morning, Lassiter relented to Shawn's cries for sleep and decided to call it a night.

"You're not going to bolt on me?" Lassiter asked, half asleep as he headed down the hallway to his bedroom.

"I'll be here in the morning," Shawn promised.


	3. Chapter 3

Shawn woke up slowly. It took him a minute to organize his thoughts, which were all over the place as he realized he wasn't sleeping on the futon in his apartment.

"Coffee?" Lassiter asked him.

Shawn sat bolt upright and looked around the detective's house, then relaxed slightly when he remembered the previous day's events. "What time is it?" He asked, giving a yawn.

"Just after eight, I figured we would need all the sleep we could get." Lassiter stirred his three creams and four sugars into his mug and then went to look at the case board again.

Shawn followed him and studied the time line.

"O'Hara left last Monday." Lassiter tapped the beginning of the time line, going over the same information they had plotted out the night before. "She called me on Tuesday to remind me to water her plants."

"And you got the call on Wednesday morning," Shawn finished, noticing a red mark on the time line.

Lassiter nodded. "I haven't been able to reach her or her boyfriend, so the odds that they're together are pretty high."

"Where were they going on vacation?" Shawn asked, ignoring the lump that had settled in his stomach when Lassiter had said the word boyfriend.

"She didn't say, but I would assume they're going here," Lassiter pointed to a map. "He owns a small cabin in the woods. They went there last summer and O'Hara said it was about a ten minute drive from the main road.

"If they went there last summer, then whoever took her might have been watching her for a while." Shawn studied the board. Besides the timeline and the map, there was a list of all the cases Shawn had solved for the SBPD. "What's the list for?" Shawn hadn't noticed it the night before.

Lassiter glanced over to it. "If the kidnapper wants you then odds are that you helped bust him."

"We need to drive out to that cabin," Shawn decided after looking over the board one more time.

"I went out there as soon as I got the call; there was nothing out of the ordinary."

Shawn shook his head. "Lassie, how many times did I solve a case which you couldn't?" He felt a bit of happiness as the banter from before came back to him. He hadn't anyone to argue with like this for eight years.

Lassiter rolled his eyes, but grabbed his suit jacket from off the counter and shrugged it on. He checked the pocket for his keys and then jerked his head towards the door. "What are you waiting for?"

"I didn't have any breakfast," Shawn faltered as he pulled on his shoes.

"There's pop-tarts in the car. I figured you'd still be on a diet consisting of sugar," Lassiter grumbled.

"Did you get the ones with frosting?" Shawn asked hopefully as he followed the detective out the door.

OoO OoO OoO

Buzz McNab was in a quandary. He was back at the station after getting a few hours of sleep. He was sitting at his desk and tapping the floor with his foot as he thought about what he had done last night. Shawn Spencer was a wanted man. He had left Detective Lassiter's house without arresting him. Sure, Juliet was kidnapped... Detective O'Hara was kidnapped. McNab felt his stomach drop. Lassiter had told him not to mention it to anyone. If he did, he was dead.

"Detective McNab, my office, five minutes," Chief Vick snapped out as she passed by his desk.

McNab jumped as she startled him and then mumbled a "Yes ma'am." He hurried to straighten his tie and brush the crumbs from his morning bagel off himself.

"Close the door behind you, Detective." The chief didn't look up when McNab came into the room. "I hear you had an interesting night," the chief commented still absorbed in the report in front of her.

McNab's stomach dropped even further. She knew. She had to know; maybe Dobson had followed him to Lassiter's apartment. Maybe the police department had installed security lenses in his eyes and so whatever he saw they saw. He couldn't tell her about Juliet, but McNab could tell she didn't know that. If she did, there would be a manhunt out right now.

"I didn't expect him to show up after all this time," he blurted out.

The chief snapped her head up to look at him.

"I mean, we've always know he was out there. But we didn't know where and the crime has kept us busy enough that we haven't had time to execute a warrant." McNab was blabbering. "I just didn't think I would find him at Detective Lassiter's house. He's the last person I would expect Shawn Spencer to be hanging around with."

"I thought Tyler had to go to the ER after he fell out of bed." Vick's tone was clipped. "Shawn Spencer was at Detective Lassiter's house? Carlton said he was going to visit his mother."

Buzz wished the floor would open up underneath him and swallow him right then and there.

OoO OoO OoO

"Why does her boyfriend live all the way out here?" Shawn complained as he and Lassiter surveyed the secluded cabin. "There's no cable, and I bet the internet quality sucks."

"It's not his normal home." Lassiter made his way through the gravel drive to the four room cabin. "He has an apartment in town. This is something he got from his parents after they passed away."

"You approve of this ridiculous relationship?" Shawn asked, pulling his sleeve down over his hand before he cautiously opened the door.

"I just know a lot about it." Lassiter quickly changed topics. "This wasn't unlocked the last time I was here."

"Key, under the fake plant. It's as bad as Gus' old hide-a-key." Shawn stopped as he said Gus' name. Of course Shawn had thought about his best friend almost everyday since he left Santa Barbara, but he hadn't really talked about it to anyone.

OoO OoO OoO

_Shawn had called. Shawn had emailed. Shawn had even had written a letter and mailed it to Gus. But that stubborn best friend of his had refused to call him back. He hadn't even responded to any of the adorable bunny emails that Shawn forwarded to him on a weekly basis. _

_It was four weeks of silence. Shawn was traveling around the country. He had ended up in Chicago for a while, working at a carnival for the summer. Not as a psychic, but as a pickle stand worker. He made deep fried pickles, which were actually pretty delicious, but no one ever bought them because they liked them. They bought them because they wanted to laugh at their friends eating deep friend pickles._

_It had been four weeks of silence, when Shawn got a voicemail from Gus._

_"Don't think that I don't know who keeps sending me bunny emails, Shawn. Don't think that I don't know it's you that calls me every day." Gus was angry. Angrier then Shawn had ever seen him. "Here's the thing, Shawn. In all those years that you pretended and lied to everyone we knew, you never realized that it wasn't just your reputation on the line. It was mine too." There was a pause as Gus regained his momentum. "So stop with the emails, stop with the phone calls. Stop with everything until you can come face things here." There had been a click and then silence._

_That was the day Shawn lost his best friend. That was the day that Shawn packed up and moved to Ohio. Moved away from the pickle cart and got a job at the aquarium._

OoO OoO OoO

"If you're done reminiscing," Lassiter broke into Shawn's thoughts.

"Right," Shawn swallowed and slowly entered the cabin. He gave it a quick overview. There was a main room, with a fireplace, couches and a TV. A doorway in the back led to a kitchen and a doorway to the left led to what was probably the bed room. Another door to the left was either a bathroom or another bedroom.

Shawn raised a hand to his temple, then caught the pained look in Lassiter's eyes and pretended he had been intending to run a hand through his hair.

"Just cut it out with the," Lassiter paused, "psychic stuff."

"I have no idea what-" Shawn tried to pretend he didn't know what Lassiter meant.

"The word psychic turned into a four-letter word the day you left." The detective hated that he was the one who had to explain this all to Spencer. "Every time someone said your name, O'Hara burst into tears. Finally we started referring to you as 'the psychic' but that just made it worse. In the end, we put your case to rest and tried to forget about you."

"I'm still me, with or without the psy- supernatural abilities." Shawn protested.

"You lied to us, Spencer. You lied to every single person you met over the past five years, and then when we found out you didn't even have the decency to come face up to it like a man."

Shawn didn't know how to respond to that. It hurt that Lassiter was being so blunt. It hurt that he had never really thought about who exactly he had told he was a psychic. The first year it had been something he had needed to remember, but the years after that being psychic was natural.

"What did you see that prompted the hand thing?" Lassiter tried to get back on track with what they were supposed to be doing.

"Just that there aren't any pictures. If I were dating Jul- someone, I would have pictures all over the place."

"Some people don't like pictures,"

"But there's nothing here. No scratchy homemade blankets that smell like your grandmother. No suitcases." Shawn flung his arms around the room.

"What are you saying, Spencer?" Lassiter crossed his arms.

"That they were never here on Monday. They went on vacation somewhere else."

"How are we going to find out where?" Lassiter frowned. "I can't go to the station and look up O'Hara's credit history."

"We should be able to do it on your computer at home." Shawn thought about it. "Yes, I should be able to do it from there."

OoO OoO OoO

As they drove back to the city, Lassiter tried not to think about all the time they were spending running around. He didn't want to think about it as wasted time.

When they got back to his house, Lassiter grabbed his laptop from the desk. He was about to open it, when Shawn slammed it shut.

"What the hell, Spencer!" Lassiter glared at him.

Shawn held a finger to his lips and motioned through the front window, pulling the curtain back just enough for Lassiter to see that there was a patrol car pulling up to the curb.

"Damn it, McNab must have blabbed." Lassiter hissed.

"He has the iron will of a two year old." Shawn muttered. "Grab the laptop and everything from the case board. We're going to need a new bat cave."

Lassiter threw everything into his briefcase. "I know a place, but if you complain once about it I will shoot you in the knee cap."

OoO OoO OoO

McNab had been forced to sit at his desk for the rest of the day. The chief had informed the other detectives that McNab was more than happy to file any reports they had sitting on their desks. That meant McNab now had a stack of folders six inches high, waiting for him to type up summaries and submit them to the record keeper.

The task was monotonous enough that McNab was able to keep tabs on the chief while he worked. He knew she had sent a patrol car over to Lassiter's house, but without physical evidence that the detective was harboring a fugitive they couldn't do anything except sit and wait.

"What do you mean you haven't seen him?" Vick's door was open and she was on the phone with the officer outside the house.

McNab made sure that the chief wasn't watching him and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed Lassiter's number and hoped that the detective would just let it go to voice mail.

"What is it, McNab?"

No such luck, McNab winced. "I accidently told, sir,"

"I know, my house is surrounded. Spencer and I had to sneak through Mrs. Robertson's yard. Thankfully we parked my car in the back." Lassiter's voice was not happy.

"I only said that... he was here, not the other part." McNab glanced around the station to make sure no one was paying attention to him.

Lassiter sighed. "Just, if anything happens let me know."

"Will do, sir," McNab quickly hung up and got back to working on the reports.


	4. Chapter 4

Lassiter put his phone back in his pocket and turned to where Spencer was still sitting in the passenger seat. "Get out of the car, Spencer," Lassiter demanded as the wind whipped around him. It was sunny outside, but the beach had allowed a breeze to crop up.

"I'm not going in there," Shawn shouted back through the closed window. His seat belt was fastened still, his arms were crossed and he had a scowl on his face.

"He's not here if that's what you're worried about. He moved out after you left. The house has been empty." Lassiter flung a hand back at the familiar beach house.

"It doesn't matter," Shawn shouted again.

"You get in that house, or we have no chance at finding O'Hara." Lassiter ordered him.

Shawn gave Lassiter a death glare, but slowly got out of the car. "You're sure he isn't here." He glanced around as if his dad would be hiding behind a tree waiting to pounce.

"He moved out right after you left, but never sold the house." Lassiter explained.

"Then why are we here. The odds of my dad still having internet is very slim." Shawn looked confused.

Lassiter didn't respond and motioned for the younger man to follow him around to the back of the house. The detective pulled out his keyring and unlocked the door.

"He gave you keys?" Shawn was surprised.

"He asked me to check up on the house every once in a while," Lassiter mumbled and then opened the door.

Shawn cautiously walked in and stopped short. The table that had once held fishing paraphernalia now held files. There was a cork board propped up on one chair with newspaper clippings tacked to it. On top of everything was a fine layer of dust.

Lassiter shoved past him and immediately pulled out his laptop. He was finally grateful for the wireless cards the department provided. He had told the chief they were a waste of department resources when they were handed out.

While Lassiter was busy with the laptop, Shawn slowly went over to the cork board. The newspaper clippings were all about him. Some of them were from cases that Shawn had solved, but most of them were from after he had left. The headlines read things like 'SBPD reveals Psychic to be Fraud' and 'Not So Psychic After All'.

"He tried to find you right after you left, but you really did a good job hiding yourself." Lassiter remarked.

"It wasn't that hard," Shawn said quietly.

"How are you going to find O'Hara without the police computer?" Lassiter asked as soon as his laptop was ready to go.

"If she still uses the same bank, we can track her payment history." Shawn sat down in front of the computer.

"I doubt she's still using the same password as she was eight years ago." Lassiter frowned, as he watched over Shawn's shoulder.

"She's not, but she was born in Miami, which is the answer to her security question." Shawn pointed to the screen. "Bingo," He gave a small smile and scrolled through the most recent charges Juliet had made on her card.

"That's the coffee shop she likes just down the street from the station," Lassiter pointed to a charge made Sunday afternoon.

Shawn nodded, "Monday she bought lunch on Randolph St." He turned to Lassiter. "Her boyfriend doesn't even pay for her lunch when they're on vacation together?"

"Focus, Spencer, Randolph isn't on the way to the cabin."

Shawn turned back to the computer and quickly glanced through all the charges, the last being Tuesday night at a restaurant. "I know where she went,"

"Where?" Lassiter couldn't make heads or tails of the charges.

"There's a camp ground a couple hours from here that she loves. She always wanted me to go up there," Shawn brought up a map of the area.

Both men froze as Lassiter's phone rang.

"Is it the chief?" Shawn whispered.

Lassiter grimly shook his head and then put the phone on speaker, setting it gently on the table.

The voice that came over the phone was garbled and the gender was indistinguishable. "Detective, I really hope you aren't trying to play hero." Even with the distortion there was a definite chiding tone to the voice.

"Where's Juliet?" Shawn asked.

"Shawn, is that you?" The voice seemed surprised. "I didn't think Detective Lassiter would actually try to track you down. But I am so glad that he did so. If you would give yourself up to me things would go so much better for everyone." The voice laughed. "Well, until I kill you."

"Why are you doing this?" Shawn tried to ask, but there was a click and a dial tone.

Neither of the two men moved right away. Slowly Lassiter put his phone back in his pocket.

"We should get going," Lassiter spoke up, closing his laptop. "If we leave now we should be able to get to that camp ground before it gets too late."

Shawn winced as the detective used the phrase 'too late'. But he stood and nodded. "We should probably get out of town anyway. If the chief is set on looking for me, she'll probably look here eventually."

"What do we do if they never made it to the camp ground?" Lassiter asked once they were sitting in the car again.

Shawn clenched his jaw. "We call him back and arrange for a trade."

OoO OoO OoO OoO

Gus sat at his desk. The chief had just called him. He hadn't spoken to anyone in the department for almost as long as Shawn had been gone. Juliet emailed him occasionally, but Gus could tell she really didn't want to. He was sure that all he did was remind her of Shawn. That's why Henry stopped talking to him. That's why Gus had transferred to the Goleta branch of West Coast Pharmaceuticals.

The chief had called him to see if Shawn had contacted him. Shawn hadn't bothered Gus since Gus had left him that voice mail. She hadn't told Gus why she was asking, but Gus could only think of one thing; Shawn was back in town.

He looked at his cell phone and opened it several times before dialing Juliet's number. The phone rang a dozen times before going to voice mail. Gus frowned, but once he set his mind to find out something, he was going to find it out. He dialed Lassiter's number.

"Guster, I can't talk right now." Lassiter snapped into the phone after a couple of rings.

Gus could tell he was in a car and was about to say something when he heard something he hadn't expected to hear.

"Don't tell him I'm here, Lassie. We have to find Jules before I deal with him."

"I think he heard you," Lassiter snapped again, not to Gus, but to the other occupant of the car.

"Lassiter, is Shawn there with you?" Gus tried to keep himself calm. "The chief called and wanted to know if I had heard from him."

There was some muffled arguing. Gus guessed that Lassiter had put the phone against his shirt so he could talk to Shawn.

"Guster, I promise we'll talk about it, but I really can't right now." Lassiter's voice was tense and he was trying not to just hang up on the man. "And so help me, if you even think about calling his dad I will personally make it so you can't sell pharmaceuticals in the state of California."

Gus was about to respond when there was more muffled static, and then Shawn was talking to him.

"Look, buddy," Shawn swallowed. "I've got something I need to do, then we can have a fist fight, or yell at each other until we lose our voices, I promise. I'm not going to run the moment that I get done with this thing." Then there was silence.

Gus sighed. Whatever Shawn was involved in, it was bad if he wouldn't even consider talking to Gus first.

OoO OoO OoO OoO

The campground was quiet as Lassiter pulled into a parking lot. The main office was a small red building with a worn look to it. Despite looking old the place had a little bit of charm to it.

"God forsaken place," Lassiter grumbled as he pocketed the keys in his jacket pocket and headed for the office.

"I can see why she would like it though," Shawn glanced around at the cabins that dotted the area surrounding the parking lot. He didn't see any cars other than a truck parked on the other side of the lot, but that made sense. From the map at the entrance to the property there were dozens of cabins that couldn't be seen from the main office.

Shawn narrowed his eyes and tried to read the logo painted on the side of the truck. It looked familiar, but he guessed his eyesight wasn't as good as it had been, because the lettering was hard to make out.

"Spencer, we don't have all day to sight-see," Lassiter snapped, bringing Shawn back to the matter at hand.

A bell dinged above the door as Lassiter and Shawn entered the office.

"Can I help you with something?" The man behind the counter put down his newspaper and looked at Lassiter expectantly.

"Head Detective Carlton Lassiter," Lassiter flashed his badge at the man. "I'm looking for a young couple that came up here earlier in the week. Blond woman, early thirties. She would have been with a dark-haired man, also early thirties."

The man nodded, "Yup, they checked in on Monday night, haven't seen 'em since though. Seemed real nice, had plenty of supplies."

Shawn was letting Lassiter do the talking, it gave him a chance to look around the office. There were snack foods and drinks that could be bought. Different necessities that a traveler might forget.

"Which cabin were they staying in?" Lassiter asked.

"They were in the Rain Tree Lodge," The man pulled out a map. "I can take you down there if you like,"

"We'll be fine," Lassiter assured him, taking the map.

As the two men headed for the cabin, Lassiter checked his glock to make sure it was ready for use.

"At least we know she got here," Shawn muttered, more to fill the silence then anything.

Lassiter nodded, biting back a wince. They had been doing a lot of walking and he could feel the toll it was taking on his leg. But he couldn't slow down. Not when O'Hara was in trouble.

The cabin was just on the other side of the trees from the main office. As they broke through the tree line, Lassiter motioned for Shawn to slow down. Neither of them had any idea what might lay ahead.

The cabin looked peaceful enough, Shawn thought as they slowly approached from the back. It was probably only a room or two. It looked like there was a fireplace.

"Just be careful," Lassiter whispered as they rounded the corner.

When they reached the porch, Shawn's stomach churned. There was an unsettled feeling about the whole place.

Lassiter slowly opened the door, preparing himself for the worst. The cabin looked used, but not abused. There were two suitcases sitting next to the couch. Nothing seemed out of place.

"We know they got here then," Lassiter murmured as he moved farther into the cabin.

"Lassie," Shawn stayed close to the detective, "There's something under that blanket."

There was a plaid blanket laying on the couch, it was draped over something that gave it definite shape.

Lassiter moved towards the blanket, gun drawn and poised to shoot. He flung the blanket back and quickly put both hands on his gun.

Shawn's stomach churned once again, and he immediately grabbed in Lassiter's jacket for the keys.

"Spencer, what the hell are you doing?" Lassiter was thrown off guard and he didn't realize what exactly Spencer was doing until the younger man turned and ran out the door.

"This is something I have to do myself, Lassie." He yelled back.

Lassiter tried to run after him and maybe eight years ago Lassiter would have been able to catch him, but with a leg that hurt like hell and Spencer's head start it was useless. He made it to just outside the cabin when he saw Spencer dashing into the trees.

"Spencer!" He yelled after the younger man once more and then slammed his hand against the support beam of the cabin porch. Shawn Spencer was in the wind, and he knew something Lassiter didn't. That had always been the case with the two of them, but this time it scared Lassiter. It scared him more then he wanted to admit to himself.


	5. Chapter 5

Lassiter stood on the porch for another minute, trying to decide what to do. He couldn't call the cops. He would normally call O'Hara to pick him up, but that was out of the question. He considered McNab, but if the chief knew that Spencer was in town, she was more than likely watching the younger cop like a hawk.

Lassiter pulled out his cell phone and called the one person that might see what Shawn had seen.

"Are you ready to talk?" Guster's irritated voice came over the air waves.

"Look Guster, Spencer ran off with my keys and I need to find him." Lassiter tried to remain as calm as possible.

"Find him? Lassiter, what is this all about?"

"I will tell you when you come pick me up, I'm at the Sunny Ridge Campground outside of Goleta." Lassiter checked his watch, time was passing too quickly for his taste.

"I'm not coming out there until you tell me what is going on." Gus protested.

"Guster, I will explain everything to you, but you have to trust me on this; Spencer is in danger and if we don't act now we might never get to yell at him for ditching town."

Lassiter didn't know if it was the edge of desperation in his voice or the fact that Spencer had shown up after eight years, but he heard a small sigh and then Guster spoke.

"I'll meet you outside the main office,"

"There's something you need to see," Lassiter told him. "Spencer saw it and bolted, I don't know what the hell this thing even is."

"What does it look like?" Guster's voice was distant, as is he were on speaker phone and walking somewhere.

"I don't even know," Lassiter eased himself down onto the steps of the cabin. "Just, hurry,"

OoO OoO OoO OoO

"He hasn't called me, Karen." Henry Spencer was sitting across from Karen Vick in her office. She had called him in, but hadn't mentioned what it was about until after the former cop had gotten to the station.

"Henry, he's in town. Detective McNab saw him just last night." Karen tried to reason with him. "He's in town and he hasn't called you?"

"I swear," Henry crossed his arms. "If he had I would have brought him down here. You know that as well as anyone."

Vick sighed, "I know, if he does contact you-"

"You'll be the first person I call," Henry interrupted her. When the only thing that Vick did was give him a nod, Henry left the office. He headed for the bull pen. If Detective McNab had seen Shawn then odds were he knew what was going on.

Henry spotted the detective making himself a cup of coffee. Henry grabbed his arm, just above the elbow, forcing McNab to set his mug down to avoid spilling it all over himself. Without a word Henry led him to the alcove by the filing cabinets.

"McNab, you'd better tell me what is going on," He growled at the younger man, watching as the six foot detective cowered slightly as he faced the ire of the retired cop.

"What about what is going on?" McNab tried playing oblivious. He knew exactly why Henry Spencer had been called down the station. But that didn't mean he wanted to talk about it with him.

"Why is Shawn in town?"

"Shawn's in town?" McNab tried to keep up the act, but the glare from the older Spencer melted his resolve.

"You know he is," Henry grabbed McNab's arm again. "Let's go for a walk."

OoO OoO OoO OoO

Gus parked outside of the main office. He consulted the faded map next to the gravel garden, that didn't hold any plants. Lassiter had told him which cabin to go to and once he found it on the map, Gus set off in a quick jog.

The detective was still sitting on the porch when Gus reached the cabin. Gus couldn't remember the last time he had talked to the detective. He occasionally saw Lassiter on the evening news, but all those interviews did was remind Gus that Shawn was gone.

Lassiter looked up as Gus slowly approached him.

"Lassiter," Gus frowned, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Guster," Lassiter heaved himself off the steps, well aware of the effort it took and the fact that effort was written all over his face.

"What's going on? Where's Shawn? Why was he in town in the first place?" Gus crossed his arms.

"Slow down, Guster," Lassiter held out his hands to stop him from continuing to ask questions. "Spencer is in town because I brought him back,"

"Why?"

"Just let me tell the whole story," Lassiter snapped. "Wednesday morning I got a call to my cell phone. It was a voice that claimed to have kidnapped O'Hara and her boyfriend. They made two conditions; if I went to the police they would kill her and the only way I could get her back is by giving up Spencer."

"Nobody knew where Shawn was,"

Lassiter glared at him, but continued. "I cashed in a few favors and got Spencer's address from Agent Ewing. I tracked him down, we were working the case and when we walked into this cabin Spencer saw something and ran. You are the only one who might know what the hell Spencer saw and why is scared him."

"Did you track down Shawn to turn him over to the kidnapper?" Gus wanted to make sure things were clear before he helped Lassiter.

Lassiter shook his head. "Damn it, Guster," He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "I brought him here to help me find O'Hara."

Gus nodded, "What did Shawn see?"

Lassiter motioned for him to come into the cabin. "Everything was fine, until we saw this." He pointed to the couch.

Gus looked like he wanted to throw up at that point.

"What does it mean? That thing looks like a creepy clown or something."

Gus shook his head. "That's Rick Astley, Shawn made that pinata at summer camp years ago."

"Why the hell would it be here?" Lassiter continued to look at the pinata.

"I don't know, but if the last time Shawn and I saw this pinata means anything. We need to head to Camp Tikihama."

Lassiter was about to respond when his cell phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID and answered when he saw McNab's number. "What is it McNab?"

OoO OoO OoO OoO

"Lassiter, you had better have a damn good explination as to why you're running around with my son trying to find his ex-girlfriend." Henry Spencer was on McNab's cell phone, sitting in the driver's seat of McNab's patrol car. The younger detective sitting next to him.

"Spencer, I can't talk about this with you," Lassiter snapped back.

"McNab told me about Juliet." Henry's voice was a little softer.

"Well, tell McNab he can look forward to a life of patroling neighborhoods." Lassiter was now walking towards Gus' car. Their, pace a lot slower then he wanted thanks to his leg.

"Lassiter, I know what she means to you, she's your partner. But think about how far Shawn is going to go to save her."

"I'm well aware that they dated," Lassiter grumbled.

"Think about what they've been through together. This could get Shawn killed," Henry's voice caught.

"Guster thinks he's gone up to Camp Tikihama," Lassiter ignored the emotion in the older man's voice. "We're going to head up there too, maybe we can stop him from doing something stupid."

OoO OoO OoO OoO

Shawn parked Lassiter's car near the main road and decided to walk the rest of the way to the camp. If Juliet was here with her boyfriend and the kidnapper, he didn't want to alert them before he was ready to talk his way through this.

As he stepped down an embankment in the trees Shawn felt the cold metal of Lassiter's spare glock press against the small of his back. He had tucked the gun in the back of his pants, just in case. Like he said, he wanted to talk his way through this.

The camp was just as creepy as it had been ten years ago when Shawn had been here last. The buildings were still in disrepair. The laundry building was now boarded off completely. That could have had more to do with the fact that someone was murdered there rather than it being about to fall down.

Shawn was a little surprised to not see any cars. After Lassiter had flung back the blanket to reveal his old Rick Astley pinata, it had clicked in Shawn's mind that the truck at the campground had a Tikihama logo on it. So if the truck wasn't here; who did it belong to and where were they?

He looked at his cell phone. There weren't any missed calls, because Lassiter had never gotten his new number. He still remembered the detective's, but calling him wasn't something Shawn wanted to do at the moment. A little voice in the back of his head, the little voice that always sounded like Gus or his dad, reminded him it might be a good idea. Shawn ignored the voice and headed for the main house, trying to stay in the trees as much as possible.

There was a good twenty feet of open space between the trees and the house. Shawn would have to run across it to investigate anything. After a good look around to make sure there wasn't anyone, Shawn made the dash. He got to the corner of the house and headed for the door.

It could have been the fact Shawn was on edge because of Juliet being in danger. It could have been the fact Shawn hadn't had to sneak around for the past eight years and he was out of practice. It could have been the fact Shawn didn't have Gus with him to watch out of bad guys. Whatever the case, Shawn heard a noise behind him and was about to turn around when his world went black.

OoO OoO OoO OoO

_It had been six months to the day that Shawn had left town. Shawn stared at his phone, he had thought about calling her thousands of times. He had a speech written out. It was an explanation of why he hadn't told her about the psychic charade. It was an explanation of why he had done it to protect himself. He had been so scared she would leave him if she knew that he didn't have the guts to do it. He had the speech memorized, he had even dialed her number of a pay phone but hung up before she answered._

_He kept having a reoccurring dream where she had answered before he got a chance to hang up and even though he was using a pay phone she still somehow knew it was him. In the dream Juliet always sat there on the line for a moment and then had just started saying his name._

_"Shawn,"_

OoO OoO OoO OoO

"Shawn,"

Well this wasn't a dream, and someone was shaking his shoulder. Shawn slowly opened his eyes. His head hurt like hell and he was now thinking maybe leaving Lassiter behind was a bad idea.

"Shawn!"

The shaking stopped and Shawn got his eyes to focus. He sat up slowly, the pounding ache in his head wasn't going away. It felt a little bit like when Drimmer had decked him on the pier all those years looked around. He was in some sort room, there was only a small bed and a lamp. One door and a small window that was boarded over, which let absolutely no light through.

"Shawn," The voice said again and Shawn turned to his left.

"Hey, Jules..."

"Are you okay?" Juliet asked him, concern in her eyes.

Shawn closed his eyes and opened them again, hoping that the world would be not so spiny when he did. Thankfully it was... slightly. "I'm good, I should be able to shake this off."

Juliet relaxed and sat back down on the floor. "What are you doing here?"

"I was supposed to be saving you," Shawn muttered, trying to stand up and sitting down next to Juliet when he found his legs wouldn't support him. "Lassiter came and got me yesterday. He said you were in trouble, so I came out here to save you."

"You came to save me? After all this time."

"Of course," Shawn checked all his limbs to make sure they all still worked right.

"Why didn't you come back?" Juliet asked him after a moment of silence.

Shawn frowned. "I did, I just got to town yesterday."

Juliet clenched her jaw. "No, before, why didn't you come back to town after your dad told us your secret? Why didn't you tell me before?"

Shawn opened his mouth to answer and then closed it again. He sighed and shrugged. "Part of me thought that if you knew, you'd hate me for it. You made such a big deal about the truth being important when you met Declan. The other part, the other part of me didn't want to stop helping the police. I loved it, Jules."

"Why didn't you come back?" Juliet repeated.

"I was scared, I didn't know how to take responsibility for it." Shawn looked at the floor. "People were put in jail because of my help. If I was proven a fraud then..."

"Some of them would walk," Juliet stated. "All your evidence would be thrown out."

Shawn nodded silently.

"How could you be so stupid?" Juliet sounded mad. "Didn't the thought cross your mind when this all started?"

Shawn flinched. "Gus tried to tell me, my dad tried to tell me. I was cocky. I didn't think I'd get caught. I didn't think I'd be working with the police for six years. The longest I ever held a job before that was six months. I didn't think-"

"No, Shawn, you didn't think." Juliet cut him off.

"I came to save you," Shawn murmured.

"I know, but that doesn't mean I don't want to yell at you."

"Well... can you yell at me after we get out of here. Where's your boyfriend?" Shawn ignored the lump in his throat when he said the B word. He looked around the room, as if expecting the guy to be sitting silently in the corner.

There was silence and then Juliet spoke. "Shawn, he killed Dean." A few tears slipped down Juliet's cheeks.

Shawn looked to her, "Killed him?"

"He surprised us at the cabin. I had my gun, but I couldn't get to it. He brought us here and he took Dean away and I heard a gun shot." She buried her face in his shoulder.

"Well this is just adorable," a new voice said from the doorway. "two long lost lovers, reunited after so many years. It's amazing that I orchestrated this all."

Shawn couldn't make out who was standing in the doorway, but the voice and the other clues he'd seen that day made him brave enough to guess.

"Jason," He didn't form it into a question. He just stated it as fact.

"Shawn, you recognized me." A note of happiness joined the smugness of Jason's tone.

"What is going on, Jason? Why did you go after Juliet?" Shawn unconsciously moved in front of Juliet when he said her name.

"I had to kidnap Detective O'Hara, how else was I going to get you to come home?" Jason leaned against the doorway. "It kind of surprised me, Detective Lassiter didn't just try to save her himself."

"Why do you even want me in the first place?"

"You ruined my life, Shawn." Jason said simply. "You ruined my life, so it's only fair that I ruin yours."

"How did I ruin your life, Jason, because the last time I checked I actually saved you from being murdered here." Shawn tried to keep things light, but he was not happy with the situation.

"You saved me from dying, that's true, but after you and Gus and Detective O'Hara went back to Santa Barbara I was left with a camp that no one would stay at. Friends who hated me and a fiancee who didn't think my brand of humor was that funny after all."

"I'm not the one who hired a psychopath to work for my murder camp." Shawn retorted.

Jason didn't respond and just turned and left, shutting the door behind him.

"Shawn, please tell me Lassiter is on his way here." Juliet whispered.

"That would be a little hard, considering I carjacked him."


	6. Chapter 6

The ride to Tikihama was tense. Lassiter would tell that Guster wanted to ask more questions, but either didn't know which ones he wanted to ask or how to word them.

"What happens when this is all over?" Gus finally managed to get a question out.

"Hopefully the bad guy is dead and we get to move on with our lives."

"No, I mean with Shawn. I doubt he'll be going back to..."

"Ohio,"

"Right, Ohio any time soon. What happens when this is all wrapped up?" Gus glanced over to the detective.

Lassiter clenched his jaw. He knew what should happen. Spencer should be made to deal with the consequences of his actions. That was what should happen, but it was too distracting to think about it right now. Lassiter needed to focus on one thing; getting his partner back.

"Guster, we'll cross that bridge when the time comes." He murmured. "Right now, we're going to save O'Hara."

"There's some advil in the glove box," Gus said after a moment.

"What?" Lassiter gave him a confused look.

"Your leg, I noticed you were favoring it. There's some advil in there if you want to take some." Gus reached over and opened the glove box in front of Lassiter. As Lassiter pulled the bottle out in silence, Gus spoke again. "I saw the news report when it happened."

Lassiter didn't respond, but popped open the pill contain and dumped a couple into his hand. He was thinking about the fight he'd had with O'Hara after he'd been released from the hospital.

OoO OoO OoO OoO

_Lassiter was back at his desk, limping around with a cane and frustrated that he couldn't move at his normal pace. Even though it had been almost six weeks since the surgery._

_O'Hara had come by with a new cup of coffee and, as she watched him put in his cream and sugars, commented. "Maybe if Shawn had been there," _

_It had been so quiet, and so soft that for a second Lassiter thought he had imagined her saying that. But then she had repeated herself a little louder than before._

_"Damn it, O'Hara!" Lassiter had snapped, causing every head in the station to turn their way. "Maybe if Spencer had been there, we would all be kissing unicorns and getting paid in popsicles." He saw his partner flinch slightly, but Lassiter didn't stop. "Maybe if he was there, he could have been the one inside dealing with the crazy man with a gun. Maybe if he was there we could all be in one piece at the moment. Well guess what; he wasn't there. He ran away to avoid having to be a decent human being. And as far as I'm concerned, good riddance." Lassiter had stalked off with as much grace and dignity as his leg allowed him. He had gone down to the range and shot at targets until the frustration had ebbed._

_When Lassiter hobbled his way back to his desk a few hours later, he saw O'Hara had left for the day. A short conversation with McNab confirmed that Lassiter's partner had left early, eyes teary._

_Lassiter sat back down at his desk to start on his paperwork again. He had chewed out O'Hara before, but never like this. He rubbed his hands over his face. He shouldn't have used Spencer against her like that. Damn it all, everything was so complex now._

OoO OoO OoO OoO

It had taken days for Lassiter to get Juliet to look him in the eyes again. He had apologized, much to her surprise, but after that they had become closer. Maybe it was because in different ways Spencer had betrayed their trust and that common hurt brought them together.

"I saw the news report," Gus repeated himself, breaking into Lassiter's thoughts. "When you were shot. I saw the report."

Lassiter made an inarticulate sound to indicate he'd heard Guster.

Gus continued, "I'm glad you didn't die."

"We can talk about our feelings later," Lassiter grumbled as Gus pulled up behind the abandoned Crown Vic. "Let's just hope Spencer left it unlocked."

OoO OoO OoO OoO

Henry was driving towards Tikihama. Buzz was still sitting in the seat next to him. The young detective's face looked a mixture of panic and fear.

"You don't have to do this," Henry reminded him as they drove down the highway. "I could drop you off at the station and go myself."

Buzz shook his head, "Detective Lassiter is going to need all the help he can get."

It had been a long time since Henry had driven up to Tikihama to pick up Shawn, over twenty years. He had made the drive dozens of times and it really hadn't changed over the years. But this drive, the most important drive, felt like it was taking four times longer than normal. He was pushing fifteen over. Thankfully it was McNab's department issue and they wouldn't be stopped, he hoped.

OoO OoO OoO OoO

After a while Shawn's head didn't hurt quite so much. He started going around the room looking for anything that might be used as an escape route.

"I've looked already," Juliet told him, when he started on his second trip around the small room. The window was boarded over, and the door was locked. The bed was anchored to the floor. The walls were stripped bare of everything except the wall paper.

Shawn didn't respond, but was focused on the window. "Did you try the window?"

"I tried everything,"

The window boards were simply nailed into place. Shawn pulled on one of them and almost smiled when it wiggled.

"Come over here and give me a hand, Jules."

"Shawn, he might hear," Juliet glanced to the door, as if afraid Jason would burst through at any moment.

Shawn grunted as he pulled harder on the boards. "If he hears I'd rather face him in the open then stuck in here. Plus if we get the board free we can use it to hit him over the head."

Juliet clenched her jaw and reached up to held Shawn tug on the boards.

After a few more moments of grunting and a few muttered curses from both of them the board popped free of the nails.

Juliet set it carefully on the floor, making sure it didn't clatter or make any noise. She looked back to see Shawn already setting the second board on the floor.

"These are wet, the wood's soft." He murmured and turned back to pull two more boards off the window. He examined the hole he'd created.

"I think I can fit through there," Juliet stared at the hole as well.

"I'll give you a boost," Shawn cupped his hands to give her a leg up. "I should be able to climb out, but if all else fails you can go for help."

"I'm not leaving you," Her voice was full of the determination and spirit that Shawn had loved.

"Just climb out the window," Shawn half snapped. He knew he was frowning, if not scowling at her.

Juliet crossed her arms and just stared at him.

Shawn took a deep breath. "Sorry," He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck and then cupped his hands together again. "I'll be able to climb out," He said with more certainty then he felt inside.

Juliet used Shawn's shoulder to brace herself as she put her left foot into Shawn's hands. For the briefest of seconds she let her hands rest there.

"I can't hold you all day," Shawn grunted. "I some how got old," He lifted Juliet up to the window.

"He's not there," She whispered down and then hoisted herself the rest of the way through.

Outside was almost as creepy as it had been inside the small room. There weren't any birds chirping and no breeze was blowing through the trees. There was nothing to stand on underneath the window, so when Shawn managed to squeeze his way through he had to let himself fall the rest of the way.

"I don't like this one bit," Juliet whispered, edging closer to him.

OoO OoO OoO OoO

Thankfully Spencer had been negligent in locking the car and Lassiter made quick work of looking for his extra fire arms.

"The glock from the glove box is missing," Lassiter commented, mostly to himself as he pulled another from the trunk. He checked it and then handed it to Gus.

Gus held up his hands. "You must be out of your damn mind if you think I'm going to take that."

"Damn it, Guster, you need to take this. We have no idea what we're going to be facing down there."

"Can you even walk down there?" Gus still didn't take the gun, but noticed how Lassiter wasn't putting any weight on his leg.

Lassiter gritted his teeth, "I'll be fine. Just take the gun," He held out the fire arm to Gus again.

Before Gus could refuse to take the gun again, Henry pulled up next to them with Buzz in tow. The car was barely turned off when Henry jumped out of the driver's seat.

"Where is he?" The elder Spencer's voice was full of concern.

"We don't know, but there's one glock missing from the car. I just hope he hasn't done anything stupid."

Henry clenched his jaw and then held out his hand. "I want a gun,"

Lassiter gave Guster one last look and then handed over the spare glock. "We need to approach with caution. We have no idea how many people we're dealing with or how crazy they are."

"If there's anything there that isn't Shawn or Juliet I'm going to shoot," Henry muttered.

Lassiter gave him a glare. "I don't have to take you with me, Spencer. I would prefer to bring the bastard in alive. Now let's get going." He started walking down the main drive to Tikihama. He would ignore the pain in his leg, no matter what he would ignore it.


	7. Chapter 7

Shawn crept around the corner of the building. He was keeping an eye out for Jason and knew that Juliet was doing the same behind him.

"I didn't hear a car leave," Juliet murmured, keeping her voice as quiet as possible. "He's got to be here still. How are we going to get away?"

"I had a car, but stupid Jason took the keys." Shawn felt in his pockets. "I should be able to hotwire it. Hope Lassie doesn't mind that."

"Where is the car?" Juliet glanced around the open space, still trying to keep her head down.

"Up by the road, I didn't think driving into the middle of the camp was the best plan of action," he whispered back.

"We're going to have to go across that clearing." Juliet was assessing the situation.

"Piece of cake," Shawn said more confidently then he felt. He thought he had made it across that clearing without being seen before, but the bump on the back of his head proved otherwise. When they got across, they would have to run and run fast.

"We can run to that building." Juliet pointed to one of the smaller cabins. It was probably twenty feet from where they were, but it was closer to the tree line. "It doesn't look like it's been opened up again."

Shawn could see the faded wood nailed across the door and window of the cabin. She was right; Jason probably hadn't opened that cabin up. "That sounds good," he whispered in agreement.

Juliet reached forward and grabbed Shawn's hand with her own. "On the count of three?"

"One," Shawn whispered.

"Two," Juliet continued.

"Three," they said at the same time and then darted across to the next building, hoping that Jason was asleep or dead or something.

Shawn flattened himself against the building as if he could some how meld together with the chipped paint and rusty nails and become one with the wall. It seemed silly to even try to hide since they didn't even know where Jason was or from where he would be watching.

"The trees are a lot farther away now that we're over here." Shawn looked in the two directions they could go to get to the car. "It'd be better to go across the clearing." He sighed.

Juliet didn't respond; she just tugged on Shawn's sleeve.

Shawn looked to her and then to where she was staring. Internally he flinched. He had no idea what Dean had looked like, but he had a gut feeling that he had a shock of dark hair and was last seen wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Deep down he wished it was Dean, because if Dean hadn't been last seen wearing those, then he had no idea who was lying next to the wood pile.

Juliet was still staring at the wood pile.

Shawn gently turned her and whispered in her ear. "We need to go. We need to go now."

She nodded shakily and Shawn could see her clench her jaw and mentally shake herself.

OoO OoO OoO OoO

The pace heading down to the campground was slower than any of the four men wanted it to be, but without Lassiter being carried it was as fast as they could possibly go.

"Damn it," the head detective cursed as he tripped over a loose stone in the path.

McNab, who was following directly behind him, grabbed Lassiter's arm before he could fall.

"Thanks," Lassiter grumbled, as he carefully picked his way over the trail. He had insisted on going first, despite Henry's argument against it.

Up ahead the end of the tree line was evident. Lassiter held up a hand to signal that they should move with caution. He checked his weapon and he heard McNab and Spencer do the same.

There was absolutely no sign of movement as Lassiter got closer to the edge of the trees. If he hadn't already found his empty car at the top of the road he might have thought that Spencer had been wrong about Tikihama. He ignored the voice in the back of his head that asked when Spencer had ever been wrong.

"I don't like this at all," Henry said, coming up next to him. It had been a long time since he had been on active duty, but his instincts were as sharp as ever.

OoO OoO OoO OoO

Shawn immediately saw the movement at the edge of the trees as he looked around to make sure Jason wasn't lurking. He narrowed his eyes and saw it was Lassiter and... his dad? He nudged Juliet in the arm to get her attention. He silently pointed to where the two men were standing.

"If we're going to make a run for it, now would be the time," Shawn whispered. He waited for Juliet to nod that she had heard him and then he grabbed her hand and made a run for it.

The space between the small cabin and the tree line where Lassiter was seemed to grow larger as they ran. Shawn was so focused on getting to the detective that he didn't notice the hole in the grass until it was too late to avoid it.

Lassiter saw Spencer and Juliet bolt for the trees. O'Hara was wearing the same old plaid camp shirt over one of the department t-shirts. She wore the same outfit every time she went hiking. It was dirty, but she didn't seem to be hurt. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting to see, but he hadn't expected to find his partner so quickly. He also saw what Spencer apparently couldn't; that there was a hole between them. In fact, there were a few holes between them.

"Spencer!" Lassiter shouted, trying to warn the younger man to jump or dodge or something. Trying to keep them from getting hurt, but it was too late.

Shawn heard Lassiter shout his name and had the presence of mind to shove Juliet to the side. He was going too fast to stop his foot from going into the pit fall.

Everyone heard the dull crack followed by a strangled gasp of pain as Shawn's right leg made a drop he wasn't prepared for.

Juliet was on the ground to the side. As soon as she realized what had happened, she scrambled towards where Shawn was trying to pull himself out of the three foot hole he'd fallen into.

"It's probably broken," Jason's voice commented, eerily calm with everything that was happening around him. He was walking slowly towards Shawn and Juliet, the gun he'd taken from Shawn in his hand.

"Jason?" Gus' surprised voice carried over the open space.

Jason flicked his eyes to where the rescue party was standing. He gave a small smile as he noticed the three guns pointing at him. "Hey, Killer B."

"Lassie, just shoot him," Shawn said through gritted teeth.

Jason's smile vanished. "I wouldn't do that, Detective Lassiter. I could very well slip and shoot one of them. Probably Detective O'Hara." He had inched closer to the pair and had his gun inches from Juliet's head.

"Where did those holes come from?" Gus couldn't remember them being there when he had been a kid.

"I dug them," Jason said offhandedly, as if digging holes in the middle of a camp was the most normal thing in the world. "There's only three of them. I was planning of having some bodies to take care of."

"I always knew that kid was a nut," Henry said quietly so that only the three men standing near him could hear.

"See, Shawn," Jason was talking again. "You ruined my life and now I'm about to ruin yours."

Shawn clenched his jaw and slowly stood. He couldn't put any weight on his leg, but he needed to be eye level with Jason. "I've got news for you; I did a pretty bang up job of that myself without your help."

Jason tilted his head to the side and studied Shawn. "Shawn, Shawn," he softly chided. "You came home after eight years to save the woman you love. The man who claims to hate you found you and flew across the country to bring you back. Your best friend is putting his job on the line to help out. Even your dad is here." He gave a laugh. "Where is my fiance? Where is my best friend? They left, Shawn. They left and they're never coming back."

Shawn looked up to see Juliet staring at him. It had been eight years, but that wordless connection that they shared still existed. It existed enough for Juliet to know exactly what Shawn was going to next. She might have known before Shawn himself did.

Lassiter, McNab, Henry and Gus had been moving towards the middle of the clearing. They were walking slowly and were still far away when Shawn moved.

His leg hurt like crazy, and he was pretty sure his ribs were bruised. When he had fallen into the hole, his chest had slammed against the side of it. But Shawn summoned every ounce of strength left to lunge at Jason. He used one arm to shove the gun down, heard the sound of a gun being fired, and inhaled the tangy scent of gunpowder.

Everything happened fast. Juliet moved the moment that Shawn did, but like usual her partner was faster.

The second Shawn moved, Lassiter fired. The years of training, the countless hours put in at the range all seemed to boil down into this one shot.

McNab's long legs covered the ground faster than anyone. When he reached Juliet, she was crouched over Shawn. There was blood on his polo shirt; it looked like a bullet from Jason's gun might have hit him in the side.

Juliet was nearing hysterics. "Buzz, we need... to call... an ambulance," she got out between breaths. She didn't even look up from where she was applying pressure using her plaid camp shirt.

McNab needed to check on Jason first, to make sure he was really dead. Lassiter's bullet had been perfect. It had hit the kidnapper straight through the heart.

Lassiter, Henry and Gus caught up to them.

Shawn gave a mixture of a wince and a grin to them. "Hey, buddy,"

"Don't speak, Shawn," Gus told him. Lassiter was on his phone yelling directions at the EMTs.

"No," Shawn winced again. "I need to."

"You've always needed to," Henry half snapped, his face filled with concern.

"No, I need to say I'm sorry," Shawn winced again. "I'm sorry I ran." He was talking to everyone, but he had locked eyes with Juliet.

"The EMTs said the fastest they can get here is ten minutes. We need to move him to the road if we can," Lassiter interrupted, limping over to them.

"Gus and I can do that," Henry said, taking over the job of applying pressure to Shawn's wound.

Lassiter nodded. "McNab, I called into the station as well. The chief wasn't happy, but she's sending out a couple black and whites. You stay here and explain to them what the hell happened."

"Buzz," Juliet said softly staring at her hands which had blood on them. "Over by the wood pile. Dean's..." Her voice dropped in volume with every word.

"O'Hara, I'm going to need your help up the hill." Lassiter diverted her attention away from the junior detective.

Juliet put Lassiter's arm around her shoulders and headed in the direction of the road.

Shawn was focused on getting up the hill without bleeding out, but he did see Lassiter pause and give O'Hara one of the hugs that he only gave to her when she truly needed it.

Lassiter knew his shirt would never be the same. It had Spencer's blood on it, but he hadn't been lying when he said he needed help to get up the hill. Hell, he probably would need x-rays after this was all over.

"You found Shawn?" Juliet quietly asked him.

"He's the one who knew where to find you," Lassiter said just as quietly. "I wouldn't have been able to."

"Thank you," Juliet said before lapsing into silence as she focused on the trail ahead of them.


	8. Chapter 8

Shawn had blacked out while they were waiting for the EMTs. The ride to the hospital had been extremely tense and the awkward silence that fell over them seemed better than actually talking to each other.

Lassiter had ridden in Guster's car with Henry, but O'Hara had decided to ride in the ambulance. He couldn't blame her really. She had been missing for almost three days, and on top of being kidnapped, she had lost her boyfriend.

The moment they'd gotten to the hospital, nurses had whisked O'Hara, Spencer and himself to different areas. Lassiter was going to need x-rays for his leg and some pain killers. He'd been ignoring the pain in his knee for too long.

When the tests, the poking and prodding and the paperwork were finished, Lassiter joined the rest of the group outside Spencer's room. The younger man still hadn't woken up and the concerned look in the doctor's eyes was putting everyone on edge.

Lassiter was sitting next to O'Hara on an uncomfortable bench. Someone must have brought her clothes from home, Lassiter realized when he saw she was wearing some sort of pajama pants and a different t-shirt. He half wished someone had brought him an extra set of clothes. His dress shirt had been taken for evidence and he flat out refused to wear a hospital gown. This left him wearing just his white undershirt and his dress pants underneath a bathrobe that had been scrounged up from the lost and found.

"I feel ridiculous," he mumbled to Guster who was sitting on his other side.

"You look ridiculous," Gus replied, glancing at the detective. "I'm going to get some water," he added and headed for the drinking fountain.

Lassiter rolled his eyes and was about to call after Guster when he heard Chief Vick call his name from the other end of the hallway. Turning, he could tell she was upset. He recognized the irritated look in her eyes. It was the look she always had before someone got in deep trouble.

"Detective Lassiter," she snapped, addressing him again. "You had better have an explanation for this."

"Chief, there was a situation," Lassiter began.

"He was saving me," Juliet interrupted him.

"I know all about the situation." The chief's face softened slightly when she looked at Juliet. "McNab was more then willing to share his knowledge. I'm more interested in an explanation of why Detective Lassiter ignored procedure and went after you alone."

"I wasn't alone," Lassiter argued.

Vick rounded on him. "That's the other thing. What possessed you to fly to Ohio to get Mr. Spencer?"

"We wouldn't have been able to do it without him. He found the clues that pointed us in the right direction," Lassiter stated.

Juliet gave her partner a quizzical look. He was actually admitting that Shawn was useful.

Vick glanced between her two detectives and then at the door to Shawn's room. Henry was the only one who had been allowed in. "Carlton, Mr. Spencer may have been a valuable asset, but he's also a wanted fugitive."

Lassiter didn't respond to that statement and silence fell over the three of them.

Guster came back at that moment carrying a cup of water. He avoided looking Vick in the eye.

Finally the chief cleared her throat. "CSU did a preliminary sweep of the camp ground and they found two bodies."

Lassiter felt O'Hara tense up next to him.

"We'll need statements from all of you along with Mr. Spencer," the chief continued. "Carlton, you'll need to turn over your gun."

"Already done, chief," Lassiter informed her. "Our clothes are being processed as well."

The door to Shawn's room opened and Henry came out into the hall. He gave a small nod to the chief. "The doctor said Shawn was lucky. The bullet didn't hit anything vital. He passed out from blood loss. He's going to be fine." Henry turned to Gus and put a hand softly on his shoulder. "Shawn woke up and he says he wants to talk to you."

"Henry, he needs to give a statement," Vick protested.

"He'll have plenty of time after he talks to Gus," Henry promised.

OoO OoO OoO OoO

Shawn knew he was on pain medication. It was the only logical explanation for the floaty feeling in his fingers and why he couldn't feel his broken leg. But he wasn't on enough that he couldn't focus. He knew exactly what had happened at Tikihama. He remembered everything, up until his dad had started yelling 'Stay with me' then things were a little fuzzy.

He hadn't said much to his dad when he woke up in the hospital. His first question had been whether or not Juliet was all right. His dad had nodded and assured him she was. Then Shawn had asked to talk to Gus. He could resolve things with his dad later; Gus needed to be dealt with right then and there.

He looked up as his friend poked his head around the door. Shawn would have used the term 'best friend' but he wasn't sure if that applied to them any more. He wasn't sure if Gus still wanted it to be applied to them.

Gus made his way over to the bed. There was a chair pulled up along one side, probably where Henry had spent the few hours since they'd gotten to the hospital. He hesitated for a second before sitting down in the chair. Shawn was lying back against the pillows. He had looked pale back at Tikihama after he had been shot, but some of the color seemed to be coming back now that he was hooked up to the IV.

"Buddy," Shawn started to say.

"Shawn, don't." Gus leaned forward with his arms resting on his knees. "I need to say something first." He kept talking, not giving Shawn a chance to argue or protest. "I shouldn't have shunned you when you left. I was just so frustrated and angry with you." Gus met Shawn's eyes. "You played the psychic game for years and when everyone found out, I finally realized how selfish it was. You never once thought about the fact that my reputation was on the line. I moved to Goleta, Shawn. I moved to get away from everyone that I'd met over the past five years."

"Gus," Shawn interrupted. "I'm sorry," he sighed. "The past two days have shown me how I possibly could have been selfish about that. Plus Lassie and I talked things over a little bit." He mumbled the last part, looking at his hands. "I really, really appreciate that you went and picked up Lassie."

Gus nodded absently. "He didn't even tell me why I needed to. He just yelled into the phone. I figured if you were in town and you stole his car, it was important."

"It seems really stupid now that I think about it," Shawn commented after a moment of silence.

"Stealing Lassiter's car?"

"No, leaving in the first place." Shawn sighed. "I left because I didn't want to tell anyone Jules and I were dating... and I ended up getting outed by my dad."

"Well, it's out now," Gus said firmly. "We just have to deal with it. Unless you plan on skipping town again." He glanced up at Shawn.

Shawn shook his head and winced. He gingerly reached up to touch the bandage at the back of his head where Jason had hit him. "No, I have a feeling I'm out of a job anyways, but I'll stay. It seems ridiculous to go back to Ohio."

"I have to make sure I'm not out of a job either." The realization of being mysteriously gone from his office for almost an entire day hit Gus. "The chief is out there and she really wants to talk to you."

Shawn gave a panicked look at the door as if Chief Vick could barge through at any moment.

"She just wants a statement."

"Let's get this over with then." Shawn braced himself for Vick to walk through the door.

OoO OoO OoO OoO

Gus headed out of the room, feeling much more relieved then he had in a long time.

"How's Shawn doing?" Juliet asked the moment Gus latched the door behind him.

"He's fine, a little drugged up, but he's fine," Gus assured her. He could see the chief talking with Shawn's dad down the hallway.

"They're fighting about when they're going to arrest Spencer," Lassiter said quietly when he noticed who Gus was watching. "He still has those fraud charges hanging over his head."

"Technically," Gus started to say and hesitated when both detectives fixed their eyes on him, "Shawn can't be held to those charges any more. The statute of limitations on fraud in the state of California is three years."

Lassiter caught himself before he actually smiled. He had wanted to arrest Spencer. He had wanted to be the one to bring him back and make him face the consequences of his actions. But Spencer had been through hell the past couple of days. Now that he was back, he would be forced to confront the people he'd hurt. With the statute of limitations running out, Lassiter wasn't going to be forced into a situation where he was obligated to arrest Spencer.

"Mr. Guster," the chief apparently had won the argument because she was headed for the door to Shawn's room. "I trust that Mr. Spencer is ready to give his statement."

Gus nodded.

"Good, we'll collect his statement here and when he's released from the hospital, we'll move him into police custody."

"Chief," Lassiter spoke up, forcing himself to stand. If he was going to tell the chief she couldn't arrest Spencer, he needed to be standing.

"Detective, you are in no condition to be moving around like this." The chief's voice was formal, but her eyes showed concern for her head detective.

"Chief, the statute of limitations on fraud is three years. Spencer is not an officer of the court, so therefore the charges against him have expired."

Vick didn't respond to Lassiter's argument. She simply turned and opened the door.

Once she was inside, Henry turned to Lassiter. "You didn't have to do that."

Lassiter gritted his teeth as he sat back down. "The law is the law."

"I'd never thought I'd be happy that Shawn never became a cop," Henry said, sitting down.

OoO OoO OoO OoO

Gus went to get some food. He said it was for O'Hara, but Lassiter knew that the man was probably focused on his own stomach. Henry wandered off to the bathroom. At least that's what Lassiter thought he said. Wherever he went, he left the two partners sitting together in the hallway.

They had shared a few words as O'Hara had helped Lassiter up the hill, but it hadn't been much because if they let their concentration slip, then the two of them never would have made it up the hill.

Lassiter was staring at a fire alarm mounted to the wall. He wasn't studying it, he was just staring at it. He almost jumped out of his seat when O'Hara grabbed his hand.

"Sweet Justice, O'Hara," he muttered when he realized who was touching him.

"Carlton." Juliet fidgeted with the hospital bracelet on her wrist. "He came back for me."

Lassiter nodded, knowing exactly what she was talking about.

"Why did he come back?" Juliet's voice was quiet. "You didn't threaten to shoot him did you?"

Lassiter gave a small scowl. "No, I didn't threaten to shoot him. He came voluntarily."

O'Hara looked genuinely surprised. "He came voluntarily?"

Lassiter sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I thought I was going to have to convince Spencer to come back, maybe even bribe him. But the moment I said you were in trouble, he was packing his bag."

"Did he say why?"

Lassiter shifted in his seat; he had never been a part of the relationship between Spencer and his partner. He theoretically wasn't even told about it. After he had confronted O'Hara about the conversation he heard in the interrogation room, it had just been this unsaid fact.

"Did he say why he came with you so quickly?" Juliet asked again.

"That's something you need to talk to him about," Lassiter muttered. Juliet gave him a pleading look and Lassiter groaned as he said the words out loud. "He said it was because he still loved you."

"He said he-"

"Dammit, O'Hara, stop repeating everything I say." Lassiter half snapped at her. "I may be half crippled, but I'm not deaf."

Juliet leaned against Lassiter's shoulder. "I just need to talk to him." She murmured.

Lassiter stiffened slightly as O'Hara head rested on him, but nodded. "If the chief ever comes out of there."


	9. Chapter 9

Shawn was standing outside the police station. It had been an entire month since he'd been shot. His dad had moved back to the old beach house and insisted that Shawn recover there.  
>The first week he had stayed in the hospital. People were in and out visiting him. Juliet and Lassiter less than Gus and his dad, even Buzz had stopped by on his way home from work a few times.<p>

Lassiter wasn't there as much as the others because he had to file paperwork on the case, at least that's what the detective had said.

Juliet was gone for three days in a row at the end of the first week. Shawn had asked Lassiter where she had gone and the detective had awkwardly told him that Juliet was in Wyoming at Dean's funeral. His parents had wanted him to be buried in his home town and they had wanted Juliet to be there.

Shawn had almost forgotten about Dean. On one hand he was happy that Juliet wasn't dating someone. He didn't know if he would be able deal with a situation like that. But on the other hand, he felt awful for Juliet. Her boyfriend had been collateral damage in Jason's scheme to bring Shawn back to Santa Barbara.

Gus had gone back to work. Juliet and Lassiter had gone back to solving cases and arresting criminals.

They were all going about their lives. Their lives that Shawn was no longer a part of and hadn't been a part of for eight years. The four of them had had dinner together right after Shawn had been released from the hospital, but every time he called them now they were too busy.

They said they were too busy. So, Shawn was going to take matters into his own hands. He stared up at the entrance to the Santa Barbara Police Department. This place had been as much of a second home to him as the Psych office had been for five and a half years, but now he was scared to step inside.

He knew he wasn't in danger of being arrested. The chief had made it very clear that his charges were being dropped, both because of the statute of limitations and because of what he'd done to save Juliet. That wasn't what he was afraid of. He was afraid of the looks and the whispers from every other cop in the station.

He had seen the hurt feelings of Lassiter, McNab and Juliet. He had seen how they were reluctant to trust him after all these years and they had been the ones who he had been the closest with. How would people like Dobson react?

Shawn sighed and headed up the stairs on his crutches.

"Do you want some help?" His dad's voice broke into his thoughts.

With Shawn's leg in a cast, Henry had agreed to drive him to the station, on the condition that he could stay in the truck.

Shawn had felt for the first couple of weeks that his dad blamed himself for what happened. It was Henry who had spilled Shawn's secret, but Shawn had told him not to blame anyone. If it was anyone's fault it was partly Shawn's for creating the secret to begin with and it was partly Jason's for being a crazy psychopath. He had finally convinced his dad of this during a loud shouting match in the kitchen one night after Shawn was able to hobble around the house instead of sitting on the couch all day.

"I thought you didn't want to come in." Shawn tried to hoist himself up the steps and nearly fell backward. His dad put a hand on his back to steady him.

"I don't have to come in. I'll just help you up the stairs." Henry said quietly, taking one crutch from Shawn. "Now try it again, using the railing."

Shawn gave his dad a glare, he wasn't angry just frustrated he couldn't even walk up a set of stairs by himself.

His dad's advice had worked, for once, Shawn thought to himself as he made it to the top of the stairs. He silently accepted his second crutch from his dad, who retreated back to the safety of the truck, and turned to look at the door.

"Now or never," Shawn muttered and pulled open the door.

OoO OoO OoO OoO

The station looked the same, no major redecorating or moves. There was a new rookie at the front desk and when Shawn asked for him to call Detective Lassiter up front to sign Shawn in for a visitor's badge, the officer didn't even comment on his name.

Instead of Lassiter coming to sign him in, it was McNab.

"He's heading down to interrogation," The junior detective gave a small smile and motioned for Shawn to follow him back.

Shawn hadn't seen McNab since the shoot out at Tikihama, but was glad to see that the younger man didn't seem to want to arrest him any more.

"You can just sit at my desk," McNab pulled a chair around for Shawn to sit in. "Detective Lassiter should be back any minute."

Shawn nodded and sat down, thankful for the chair. He noticed a picture of three kids sitting on McNab's desk and smiled when he saw the blonde curly hair and blue eyes. They all looked like Francie, but they had McNab's smile.

"They're cute," He commented motioning to the picture.

McNab glanced up and when he saw what Shawn was talking about, he grinned. "They are, Tyler is the oldest, then Jack and little Addie."

"I bet you and Francie are really happy," Shawn murmured still staring at the picture.

"We are," McNab looked fondly at the picture again. "It was a big change, but we'd never go back to the way it was."

Back to the way things were, Shawn smirked. If only McNab knew how many times he had wanted to make time go backwards. He had thrown out the time machine idea, it wasn't realistic anyways.

Shawn let his gaze wander around the station. He recognized a few faces, most of them glanced his way once or twice and when he caught their eye, they would duck their heads and pretend to be absorbed in their paperwork.

The rhythm of the station was the same. The soft chatter of uniformed officers by the coffee maker. The grumbling of the drunks being dragged around in hand cuffs. If it weren't for the fact Shawn was sitting next to a desk bearing the name plate "Detective Buzz McNab" it would have seemed that no time had passed at all.

It was almost a half hour before Lassiter and Juliet came up the stairs from the interrogation rooms.

"Did he confess?" Shawn asked when he noticed that Lassiter had the 'I just busted a dirt bag' look on his face.

Lassiter glanced at Shawn and his eyes glanced to the visitor badge Shawn had clipped to the bottom of his shirt.

"He did," Lassiter finally said, sitting down at his desk to write up a report of the interrogation.

Juliet was hovering by Lassiter's desk, not really making eye contact with Shawn.

"Jules," Shawn stood up and propped himself up on his crutches. "Can I talk to you for a second?" Shawn saw the quick glance Juliet gave to Lassiter and then she turned back to him.

"Yeah, I think the conference room is open." She said quietly, leading the way.

They hadn't really talked about anything serious since Tikihama. Just the basic 'how are you' and 'I'm glad you didn't die' type comments. Now they were standing face to face. Without any nurses running in and out of the room, without Shawn's dad threatening to pop in to check on his son at any moment.

Shawn sat down in one of the conference room chairs, his leg wasn't quite strong enough to let him stand and talk to her for too long. "Jules," he started to say.

Juliet held up her hands. "Shawn, I just want to say this first." She looked to make sure that he was going to let her talk and then continued. "Lassiter told me what you said; that you still love me." She took a breath and when Shawn didn't start talking she went on. "I …I don't know where I am. I went to Dean's funeral only a few weeks ago. I just can't..." She trailed off and looked at her feet.

"I'm not asking you to go out with me again," Shawn assured her. "I'm not even sure where we are as a we. I just don't want you to freak out if I stay in town."

"No," Juliet said quickly. "You can stay in town. I know your dad and Gus would really appreciate it."

"Let's not forget that Lassie seems to have taken a liking for having me back, too." Shawn gave a small smile.

"I don't know if I would go that far," Juliet smiled back.

"He hasn't threatened once to shoot me." Shawn declared and then hoisted himself out of the chair.

Juliet held the door and Shawn shuffled out on his crutches. They hadn't really said much to each other but it was what they both needed. Shawn couldn feel a weight gone from his mind.

"Spencer, quit wasting O'Hara's time. She needs to help me with these reports." Lassiter half snapped when he saw them coming over to his desk.

Juliet gave Shawn a smile and then headed to her own desk.

Shawn found a chair near Lassiter's desk and sat down there. His dad would probably be mad he hadn't come out right away, but too bad. Now that Shawn had forced himself to go to the station he wasn't going to leave right away.

"Mr. Spencer," The chief came up alongside them.

Lassiter, Juliet and Shawn all turned to look at the chief. Even McNab looked up from where he was pretending to work on reports across the bullpen.

"Mr. Spencer," Vick repeated herself. "due to the fact you were arrested when you were in high school you could never serve as an officer of the SBPD."

Shawn nodded, not really sure where she was going with this. It was common knowledge he'd been arrested, at least to everyone in the department.

"Lately there have been oddities in some of Detective Lassiter's cases and he and I have discussed the possibility of hiring a consultant in situations like that." The chief continued. "The job description will be posted on the department's website should you feel the urge to apply for the position." Vick headed for her office, shutting the door behind her.

Shawn glanced over to Lassiter and raised an eyebrow. "Should I feel the urge to apply?"

"You're not guaranteed the job," Lassiter commented not looking up from his paperwork.

"Oh please, who are you going to hire? The guy from the Mentalist?"

"The what?"

"That TV show that was like my... never mind." Shawn shook his head.

"If you feel like applying, you should know that I won't tolerate any shenanigans. And you'd better not steal my coffee or call me ridiculous names."

"Well that just takes the fun out of everything," Shawn crossed his arms.

"You should also know that Guster could also apply, part time." Lassiter still hadn't looked at Shawn.

"Full time, with benefits for the both of us." Shawn countered. Gus was living in Goleta and Shawn wanted him back in Santa Barbara as soon as possible.

Lassiter looked up at him finally and raised an eyebrow. "I'll see what the chief says." He looked back down at the reports. "Now, don't you have some place to be?"

"Fine, Lassie, I'll get out of your hair. I'm digging the more salt than pepper style. Age has really done you well." Shawn grabbed his crutches and headed for the door, hoping his dad hadn't fallen asleep waiting for him.

Juliet caught up with him just by the door. She pulled him in for a quick hug. "Shawn, I wouldn't mind if you worked here again." She let him go before he could even hug her back and headed back for her desk.

"See you tomorrow," Shawn said softly, watching her leave. He headed out the door, he needed to call Gus and convince him to take this consulting job. Maybe McNab was right, things didn't need to go back to the way they were. Maybe things could just move forward.


End file.
